Friday, January 15, 2010

Paranormal pop culture looks to be as big as ever in 2010, with ghosts, fallen angels, monsters and (surprise!) more vampires ruling the box office. This list explores only the movies coming out in 2010, and not paranormal-themed flicks in production.

Not all the movie site for these are up yet, but you can link through to most. Also, in order to be considered for the list, the plots must largely take place on this Earth and in this reality where the paranormal characters are largely unexpected and unexplained.

Ghosts

The Lovely Bones - Jan. 15
Instead of crossing over, a murdered girl assists her grieving family from the afterlife to find her killer

A Nightmare on Elm Street - April 30
A reboot of the popular '80s franchise where ghostly child killer Freddy Krueger haunts and stalks teen dreamsThe Butchering Ghost - TBA 2010
There's not much info on this one yet but it revolves around a woman who works for a law firm that commits murder and leads to a nasty haunting

Aliens

Predators - July 9
Alien hunters return to take a bite out of Earth. Produced by Robert Rodriguez, this sequel might return the Arnie franchise to a place of cool

Paul - TBA 2010
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost reunite (minus director Edgar Wright, but with Greg Mottola of Superbad) to find an alien outside of Area 51, who happens to be voiced by Seth Rogen.

Area 51 - TBA 2010Paranormal Activity director Oren Peli takes on aliens and the soon-to-be screwed teens that hunt for them

The Undead

Jonah Hex - June 18
Based on the DC Comic supernatural Western, Josh Brolin is the titular bounty hunter hunting for a voodoo master trying to raise an army of the undead

Resident Evil: Afterlife - Sept. 10
More zombies and more Milla Jovovich. This time in L.A. in 3-D

Dead of Night - TBA 2010
Based on the Dylan Dog graphic novel, this adventure stars Brandon Routh as the famous vampire- and zombie-fighting investigator of the undead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead - TBA 2010
This surreal comedy about the Holy Grail, Shakespeare and vampires was big on the film festival circuits last year. The buzz is big on this and the original score by Sean Lennon doesn't hurt. The trailer itself is great, methinks

Crypto creatures

The Wolfman - Feb. 12
Benicio Del Toro stars in the Universal horror remake set in late-1800s London. It looks good but has been a very troubled production

Beastly - July 30
A modern "Beauty and the Beast" retelling where A witch casts a spell on a cruel classmate, turning him into a monster who must find true love in his grotesque state

Piranha 3-D - August
The remake of the 1978 film features Elisabeth Shue and Jerry O'Connell as the human bait fighting the feeding fishies from prehistory

The Howling: Reborn - TBA 2010
If this remake follows the plot of the1981 original, a werewolf serial killer stalks a news anchor

Magic and mysterious beings

Legion - Jan. 22
In this supernatural thriller, God is the bad guy, and fallen angels are looking out for humanity

Tooth Fairy - Jan. 22
In the family comedy, Dwayne Johnson takes over as a mouthy, mythical creature

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - July 16
Disney's live-action interpretation of the "Fantasia" vignette. A wizard teaches an apprentice how to use magic to fight baddies in Manhattan

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - Nov. 19
In the first film installment of the final Potter book adaptation, Harry and his wizarding crew set off to find the Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort

Vanishing on 7th Street - TBA 2010
Hayden Christensen stars as a reporter in a city where shadowy beings swallow up most residents, and the rest have to fight to stay alive